Rangel: Don't bet on gambling in Texas

As they have done in previous sessions, supporters of legislation that would allow some Las Vegas-type of casinos and other limited gambling in Texas make this simple proposition to state legislators: Let the voters decide the issue.

“We feel like the people of Texas are smart enough, educated enough and certainly savvy about what’s going on that they ought to be able to decide this issue for themselves,” said former state Sen. John Montford, D-Lubbock, head of a pro-gambling group called “Let Texans Decide.”

Last week, Montford and other supporters of expanded gambling joined state Sen. John Carona of Dallas at a press conference in which the Republican lawmaker outlined his Senate Joint Resolution 64, the proposal that would allow Texas voters to decide the issue.

Carona, Montford, Bill Hammond of the Texas Association of Business and gambling industry representatives noted that Texans spend nearly $3 billion a year betting in neighboring states — “third-world countries,” Hammond joked.

That money helps pay for roads, hospitals and schools in those states, they argued. If Texas voters allowed expanded gambling, most of those $3 billion would stay here and create about 75,000 jobs and generate additional revenue for the state treasury.

Equally important, opinion polls show a majority of Texans support expanded gambling, they emphasized. Thus, if given the opportunity, the voters would approve the proposed constitutional amendment.

But Carona, Montford, Hammond and other supporters of expanded gambling have been reminded — just like in previous sessions — that in Austin, like in Washington and in statehouses across the nation, what opinion polls say the voters favor is not always what their elected officials support.

In Washington, for example, despite public support for some restrictions on gun issues President Barack Obama has pushed for since the Dec. 14 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, Congress has not approved any proposal.

In Texas, there is a major reason the Legislature is unlikely to vote in favor of sending Carona’s bill to the electorate, veteran legislators Rep. John Smithee and Sen. Robert Duncan say.

“When the voters elect us they expect us to have good judgment,” Smithee, R-Amarillo, said. “So, when we pass a constitutional amendment it’s because we have already looked into the merits of the issue. No pun intended but I would say the odds are that the gambling bill won’t pass.”

Duncan, R-Lubbock, sees it the same way.

“Based on what I’ve seen and heard over the years there is no consensus on whether that’s a good way to raise revenue,” Duncan said. “That’s why I remain in opposition (and) I don’t think there is a consensus in the Legislature to move forward gambling at this time.”

Even Carona — also a veteran legislator — acknowledges it’ll be hard to get a two-thirds vote in each legislative chamber, the most important requirement before any proposed constitutional amendment goes to Texas voters for their consideration.

If anything, Carona and legislative observers say, the bill stands a better chance of passing in a special session on school funding most legislators expect next year. The special session is anticipated after Texas Supreme Court upholds or overturns a Feb. 4 state district court’s ruling that declared the Legislature is not adequately funding the public schools.

In all, though no legislator rules out the possibility that a gambling bill passes in the current session that ends on May 27, or in a special session of no more than 30 days Gov. Rick Perry might call — as long as Republicans remain in firm control of the State Capitol it is unlikely to happen.

Part of it is because social conservatives constitute a large block within the GOP and because — as Smithee and Duncan put it — the issue is not as black and white as gambling supporters lead the public to believe.

As Rep. Drew Springer, R-Muenster, also an opponent of Carona’s bill, said: “The devil is in the details.”

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